Albino Fur: I have an albino as well and her fur has an orange tint too.
It's primarily down her spine and tail, but there's also big blotches on
her cheeks (makes it look like blush).  I only feed them Totally Ferret.
I don't know if it's the food or just the natural way her fur is tinted.
She's healthy, and she's had it for as long as I've had her.  So, I don't
worry about it too much.  Some people will say orange fur is due to a bad
diet, but I don't know if that's true.  I figure it's just the way she is!
 
Ferret Mystery Illness: It sounds to me like it could be heat related.  The
only symptom that stumps me is the red foot pads.  I tried searching in the
archives for those kind of symptoms, but wasn't successful.  The panting
and lethargy sure sound heat related.  I couldn't find definitive symptoms
of heat exhaustion/shock besides panting, lethargy, and coma.  Ferrets
definitely don't tolerate heat well.  Ours would get really lethargic when
the house got above 80 degrees farenheit.  (We bought an air conditioner
for them).  One day, I took one of mine in the yard to let her play
outside.  She began panting within 10 minutes.  I was surprised and
couldn't believe that she was that hot because it really didn't feel that
hot outside, but the sun was really heating up her dark fur.  Don't
underestimate the effects that heat can have on fuzzies.  I can't say for
sure that it was all heat related -- I'm no ferret expert.  I just thought
that this info might be helpful...
 
Suzanna
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[Posted in FML issue 3415]